I have not shared this recently , a collection of 70,s magazine road tests , including the bike magazine 250 cc head to head testing most of the 250,s available at the time and this is probably why the RD250 was so popular

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”

I remember that test. It tests the 1974 5-speed Yamaha RD250A and says-so in the intro, with a lame "don't make any difference"! So, the test should have been with a RD250B 6-speed. As it happens, I do not think that the Euro RD250B got a good test, anybody know one?

I enjoyed the RD200, GT185, CB200 test. It was interesting to see how they compared. I have a 73 GT185 and a 74 CB200 and they were pretty much spot on with the comparison. Was impressed with the speed of the RD200, not far off that of the RD250!

I remember that test. It tests the 1974 5-speed Yamaha RD250A and says-so in the intro, with a lame "don't make any difference"! So, the test should have been with a RD250B 6-speed. As it happens, I do not think that the Euro RD250B got a good test, anybody know one?

5port

mine probably got a good testing , thrashed to within an inch of its life every morning on the way to work

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Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”

So, we know that similar 250 bikes with about 30hp if geared correctly do about 90, give or take a bit and, in some cases the engines actually got maybe a little less powerful. What did change, was the styling and progressive improvements. I remember that the actual difference between bikes was quite noticeable to us 17 year olds, beating your mate by a bike length on a 5 mile back lane race to the pub made his bike "slow"! The 185/200's were easily outpaced, the 250 4 strokes nowhere. Even kamakazi riding was no cure as we all were one! The 350/400 2 strokes would always come through the pack on acceleration and high speed. I think the 250B should have been way ahead in that 250 test if they had actually had it! It had the better closer ratio 6-speed box, the better carburation, the better cylinderheads and the better exhausts. That may have been only minor improvements but, they are also what made the 350B the better aircooled 350, where "better" means 17 year old racing.

A mate had one of the Ducati 250's, an earlier one than the one in the test here, it was 'that' orange and a proper desmo IIRC. A really nice little bike, sounded super and went and handled very well, he had a racing seat and clip ons, the headlight was mounted on one of the fork leg lowers for some reason? He kept up with the 2 strokes down the lanes, but was a bit 'screw loose'! Sadly, I have no pics of that one. Lovely little bike, very desirable nowadays.